PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
I had the pleasure of catching up with Arthemis vocalist Fabio D for this interview about there new album ‘We Fight’ and their up and coming tour next month with I AM I.
Fabio give us some basics about the band, the Italian music scene, influences writing and a track by track description of ‘We Fight’, UK tour and what their plans are.
Read Steve’s review of ‘We Fight’ click here
Can you please introduce Arthemis to the readers, please?
Hi Metalheads! Here is Fabio D. First of all I want to say thank you for this interview from me and the madmen in the band!
Arthemis is a Heavy-Thrash Metal band formed by the shred Metal guitarist Andrea Martongelli in 1999. Our music reflects the dark side of Heavy Metal with Thrash oriented riffs, catchy vocals and massive modern metal wall of sound….
Through the years we’ve released 7 albums; our new face-melting album is titled “WE FIGHT” and has just been released worldwide on Off Yer Rocka Recordings and we’re very proud of it!!!
How would you describe the Italian Metal scene, what has changed of the last decade or so?
The Italian Metal scene is still full of great bands, now more than ever. A lot of them are currently on tour kickin’-ass every night all over the world. So yes, musically and artistically it’s full of great music, in my opinion.
Any Italian bands you would recommend to the PM readers.
Well, we’ve got a lot of amazing bands, personally I’m a fan of Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody because the new singer Alessandro Conti is a very good friend of mine and his new album is fantastic! Lacuna Coil, Secret Sphere, DMG, Elvenking are amazing, too…
Any other bands you would recommend not just from Italy.
I know they are very very big in UK but I would like the Italian metal fans to know one of the bands that impressed me mostly in the last 2 years…. SKINDRED! They are absolutely fantastic!
What inspires you?
Mostly the every-day life and sometimes, also the bad things that mankind is able to do…. I mean, when we write a record we try to make people understand how we are, what we believe in and how we think things should go.
What was your inspiration or starting point for ‘We Fight’
Well, we were in Ibiza for Hard Rock Hell Road Trip festival last summer, Andy had already knocked out several killer guitar riffs and we focused on the main theme of the new record. Talking about how crazy and wild is current situation in the world we came up with the final title “WE FIGHT” to tell the true story of young people who fight every day to survive, to make a living, to love someone and to let their voices be heard!
Do you have a particular writing process for songs or is it different for each song that you come up with?
Andy it’s the main composer of the band. He wrote the music and part of the lyrics, then together Andy and me started to work together on the vocals! We worked on the album a lot through Skype because we live pretty far away from each other…
When the songs are almost finished we go straight to the studio and let the demon scream hahaha, so 70% of the album is written and the rest is improvised. That’s how we roll!
As ‘We Fight’ is your 7th album, how you do keep creating ‘fresh’ tracks and sound?
Because we love what we do! We are 4 full-time musicians and we trust each other a lot! That’s our secret ahahaha! Just pure, true passion for Rock-Metal music and life on the road…we are like kids!
How did the recording sessions go? Any stories you wish to share.
The recording sessions have been so funny as always! We started recording the album after a kick-ass tour in Spain, we were still hyper from the tour experience more than ever and we gave all the best we could give to this record! Pure energy!
Probably the funniest thing was that at the time of the vocals recordings I was completely deaf because while flying back from Spain the pressure damaged my eardrums and I couldn’t hear a f@*k for almost one month… so while I was recording the volume in my headphones and in the studio was REALLY insane ahahaah! Everyone was complaining apart from me and Andy.
Can you please give us a track-by-track description of ‘We Fight’
1 – Apocalyptic Nightmare – a fantastic intro that prepares you for the battle.
2 – Empire – a song that makes you understand how crappy is the world we live in, but above all, the government.
3 – We Fight – the battle cry, the flagship song of this album.
4 – Blood of Generations – Young people screaming, we pay for mistakes we didn’t make.
5 – Burning Star – This song tells you who we are…the Burning Star!
6 – Cry for Freedom – It’s time to raise the flag of freedom.
7 – Alone – The ballad, gloomy and sad, we love this song as it comes from the heart.
8 – Reign of Terror – One way ticket to hell…and no coming back!
9 – Still Awake – We never surrender, even if sometimes it’s hard to carry on.
10 – The Man Who Killed The Sun – A song for our brothers and sisters in Japan.
11 – Metal Hammer – A tribute to the best Heavy Metal magazine in the world and to HEAVY METAL Music in its entirety!!
Do you have a favourite track?
My favourite track of the new album is “Still Awake”, I see a lot of myself in this song!
Do you have a favourite album or song?
Yeeeesssss!!!! Favourite album : SOMEWHERE IN TIME (Iron Maiden) and favourite track : CHILD IN TIME (Deep purple)
How easy was it to pick the artwork for the album?
It was very easy because the artwork it’s so meaningful and explicit and hits your head immediately straight between the eyes! We’ve got a great team in Italy working for us, and our very good friend Rob Marconi from Dirtdesign , together with Elia Turra from Fisheye Studio did a great work together, for us and “with us”!
What are you looking forward to most while you are on tour with I am I in October?
I really can’t wait to do this tour for two reasons:
1) UK it’s our second home and we simply love hangin’ out with UK’s Metalheads!
2) Last year we were touring UK with Freedom Call and I was fucking SICK! Fever for 7 days… fuck off!!! This tour will be my revenge ahahahah!
After your English Tour what is next for you guys?
We’ll keep promoting the album in Italy and other European countries, we’re looking forward to play also to other big festivals Ready to rockkkk!!!
Any messages you would like to pass on to the readers?
Thanks a lot for all the energy that you give us every time! This album is for you all!
Stay tuned on the Arthemis website www.arthemismusic.com and follow us also on Facebook and Twitter!
Thanks one more time to you and to all the PM staff! This is a new chapter or our life and we can’t wait to share it with you live!
See you on the road! Keep fighting for your right!
Fabio D.
Thank you Fabio D for taking the time out to fill this is. We’re looking forward to seeing you guys live!
Catch Arthemis live supporting I AM I in October 2012
21st The Waterfront – NORWICH
22nd The Borderline – LONDON
23rd Moho – MANCHESTER
25th Corporation – SHEFFIELD
26th Yardbirds – GRIMSBY
27th Academy – NEWCASTLE
29th The Haunt – BRIGHTON
30thThe Cellar – SOUTHAMPTON
Arthemis will be playing a Scottish date in December 2012!
Tickets £10 + booking fee on sale now, available from Tickets Scotland and Ticketweb.
For Further information
www.arthemismusic.com
www.reverbnation.com/arthemis
http://twitter.com/arthemismusic
www.facebook.com/arthemis.official
Attica Rage
